Rep. Ilhan Omar received backlash over a series of pro-Palestine, anti-Israel tweets, from which she has now created a fundraising campaign.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said on Fox News that Omar is “out of her mind” for tweeting that Israel is committing terroristic acts and Palestinian citizens don’t have “missile defense programs,” like the Iron Dome, to protect them like Israelis do.
Israeli air strikes killing civilians in Gaza is an act of terrorism.
Palestinians deserve protection.
Unlike Israel, missile defense programs, such as Iron Dome, don’t exist to protect Palestinian civilians.
It’s unconscionable to not condemn these attacks on the week of Eid. https://t.co/vWWQfMqBkT
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) May 10, 2021
“The fundamental problem that’s happening over there is that Islamic Jihad and Hamas, they have no problem putting the operations sites, the missile sites, right next to a nursery or a hospital or a residential building,” Rubio said.
Omar was wrong to accuse Israelis of being terrorists, Rubio said, claiming “she was out of her mind when she put that there.”
Omar also claimed on Twitter that Palestinians are being subjected to an “ethnic cleansing.”
Following her anti-Israel tweets, Omar’s campaign sponsored a Facebook fundraising ad about “radical right-wingers” who expressed anger at her position on Palestine: “A whole bunch of radical right-wingers — from Ted Cruz to Donald Trump — are angry at Ilhan for bringing light to violence against the Palestinian people during the holy month of Ramadan.”
“Will you donate $5, $10, or $20 now to support her campaign?” the ad continues. “Ilhan will never let up in her work for a more peaceful world.”
Other members of the “Squad” have released similar pro-Palestinian statements. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley came out in “solidarity” with Palestinians. Rep. Rashida Tlaib tweeted at Joe Biden, asking, “Where is the outrage?”
Rubio noted on Fox that Hamas is careless with its targets, and Israel is simply responding.
“[Hamas is] indiscriminate firing. They’re just firing into Tel Aviv, firing at the airport, firing into Jerusalem … And the Israeli response is, in most cases is, that they actually do the roof-knocking, where they drop non-explosives to warn people. They even call people. They actually canceled schools in Gaza so that kids wouldn’t be in these buildings,” Rubio said.
Rose Williams
Rose Williams is an assistant editor for Alpha News.
